In Vino Veritas
by aruvqan
Summary: What happens when alcohol frees Steph from her inhibitions late one night.
1. Chapter 1

In Vino Veritas

Staggering in after a girl's night out, she dropped her purse and coat by the door after locking up and using the floor bolt and then headed for her bedroom. A trail of clothing leads in to the spartan bedroom where she flopped down on the bed.

Gusting out a sigh, she blew the errant strands of hair off her face and wrapped up in her blanket. Hearing the phone in the living room ring, the answer function picking up and -

"Stephany, this is you mother. Why don't you ever answer the phone? Judith Lamont's daughter always answers her phone. I hear you were out with that black woman and went to see male strippers with your grandmother. WHy are you always doing this to me? Why can't you just quit your job, get one at the button factory and marry Joe ..." the machine cut her off with a harsh beep.

A soft muttering comes from the bed "Why does everybody order me around? Why does does every everybody think they" a hiccupy burp and a sigh "know what I want." Another sigh "I tried the mar mar married thing and we saw how well that freaking" a gusty sigh "worked. I don't want to be a burg clone." She flops over on her back and continues, "Why does everybody seem to want me to push Morelli spawn out of my hoohaa, I don't want a white house and picket and 2.6 dogs and a kid." another burp and sigh, "Everybody tells me what to do, and nobody ever asks me what I want. Only one person ever asks me what I want." Grabbing her blanket, she rolls over, pulling it over herself tighter and as she runs out of consciousness she mumbles "and I can't have him."

A silent dark man sitting in her chair listens to her soft snores for a while, then gets up, leans over to gently sweep the hair out of her face, kisses her and ghosts out. 


	2. Chapter 2

The Morning After

Steph woke up to a head that felt like a road crew jackhammering holes in her skull and a mouth that tasted like Rex had moved into it. Untangling her legs from the blanket cocoon she crawled out of bed and staggered to the bathroom to take care of business. Stripping out of her underwear, she got into the shower and used the hot water to wake herself up.

Finally feeling almost human, she walked into her bedroom and got dressed for work, jeans and tshirt - nothing fancy. Heading into the kitchen she found a bag with a Boston Creme and a red jelly donut, and a steaming cup of coffee made exactly the way she liked it and a bottle of advil with a pair out and sitting on the counter waiting for her. Heading into the living room, she sat down and listened to her answering machine messages. Mom, Mom, Lula asking her if she got home, Mom, Mom, Joe, Connie asking her if she wanted to join Lula and her in a girl's night out, Mom, Grandma Mazur ... and a final one from Mom.

 _I don't see why I bother keeping a home phone, I have a cell phone and can ignore that just as easily as an answering machine. I know I should be pissed at Ranger for letting himself in this morning, but bless him for bringing me breakfast. Not quite the Cure, but wonderful._

Deleting all the messages, she looks around and notices her purse on the coffee table and her coat neatly hung by the door. Eating her breakfast Steph plans her day. Call Daddy and ask him to pick me up so I can get Big Blue, and go to the bond office and turn in my paperwork so I can get paid.

Dusting the powdered sugar from the jelly donut off, she stands up to throw away the cup and napkin, she looks out the window to the parking lot.

"Holy shit!" Steph rummages in the pocket of her coat and finds the keys to Ranger's Cayenne. Digging out her cell she calls him.

"Yo"

"I can't borrow your Cayenne ... I will blow it up," Steph started.

"Babe."

"Well I can't!" Steph continued. "You know how many cars I have killed ... and you love your Cayenne!"

"Don't worry, I have insurance. Take it." And he hung up.

"Men!"


	3. Chapter 3

Stately Palaces

* * *

I shall close all my shutters, pull the curtains tight,  
And build me stately palaces by candlelight. Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal

* * *

Steph unlocked her door and kicked it open. For a day that started with such promise, having a skip toss a molotov cocktail at her and fry Rangers new Cayenne while she was just picking up some takeout Chinese around the corner was the absolute end.

"No thanks Hal, I walked home while we were on the phone. You don't need to call Ranger and disturb him..." Steph dropped the phone and bag of food as she walked into the entry and saw her apartment transformed. Picking up the phone "Sorry Hal, I dropped my phone. I think I need to hang up now."

Stepping further in, she looked around to see her living room filled with an abundance of flowers, soft lighting and her small dining table set with snowy white linens, crystal and flatware that had been brought specially for the evening, and Ranger dressed in chocolate brown silk slacks with a cream shirt relaxing on her sofa with a glass of wine.

"Ranger ... um, hi. I sort of got your Cayenne fried just now ..." Steph looked embarrassed.

"I know. Don't worry, as long as you are fine it doesn't matter."

"But your Cayenne ..."

Ranger stood up and gathered Steph into his arms. "Babe, I don't care. It is a car."

Steph puts her arms around Rangers waist and leans into his chest. "You are too good to me. You can't keep doing this."

"This what?" Ranger looks down and brushes his lips against Steph's forehead. He moves her gently towards the couch and they both sit down. He pours her a glass of wine and hands it to her.

"All the cars."

He shrugs. "I just want you to be safe."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

Steph waited for the rest of the line - the one where he always made sure to distance himself.

"You love me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I do."

"I thought you only loved me in your own way." Steph looked down into her glass of wine, waiting for an answer.

"I do love you in my own way. I certainly don't love you Joe's way. I don't want you to change, unless you want to change."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why now?"

"Because you talk in your sleep."

"I beg your pardon?!" Steph looked up at him.

"I was waiting for you to get home last night to give you the Cayenne, and you were very drunk and didn't notice me when you walked in. You talk in your sleep."

Steph blushed dark red, "What did I say?" She looked down at her hands.

"You complained about everybody ordering you around, and not listening to you. It was triggered by your mother leaving a rather nasty message on your machine. You were right. I assumed that Joe was what you wanted, the whole house, kids and dog thing."

"That is why you sent me back to him all those times?"

"Yes. I thought he could keep you safe and give you what you wanted. I was watching you die little by little and didn't understand why until last night. I love you the way you are."

"So..." Steph looked up to see Ranger focused on her with an amazing intentness.

"So I want to try to be with you and give you what you want." Ranger looked startled as Steph's stomach growled like a wild beast. "I think you want dinner right now," and he chuckled, leaning his head against Stephs.

"I think that would be wonderful. I sort of dropped my dinner a few minutes ago. And I think Ram thinks I am nuts."

"He'll get over it." Ranger helps Steph stand and heads into the kitchen. Opening the oven he grabs pot holders and pulls out an intricate seafood timbale and brings it over to the counter to unmold it onto a round platter. "Could you get the twigs and berries out of the refrigerator for me?" Ranger asks with a smile.

"OK." Steph opens the fridge to discover a microgreen salad with candied walnuts and dried cranberries with slivers of parmigiano and a small cruet of a vinaigrette dressing. She shifts it over to her table.

"Thanks." He moves the timbale over to the table and sets it in the center next to the salad and pulls out the chair for Steph and she sits.

"This is lovely. And the flowers are wonderful." Ranger serves the timbale to Steph. "And some of your bark and moss please."

"Are you sure? I can give yours to Rex" Ranger teases. He serves Steph a small amount of the salad and she dresses it with the vinaigrette.

"I think a little won't kill me." She tastes it. "This is actually pretty decent. And the casserole is good too."

"Glad you like it, it is one of my favorites. Though I think paella edges it out just a bit." Ranger digs in as well, and they eat in companionable quiet. "I would like to date you, take you to dinner and movies, the beach, normal stuff so we can get to know each other better."

"You don't want me to move in?" Steph asks.

"You seemed to have issues with Joe - I don't think you managed to live with him for more than a month or so except for the time your sister was living in your apartment. So we will take things slowly. We have known each other for three years, but never spent couple time together. Like I said, we should date to actually get to know each other."

Steph was stunned. Other than the occasional time at Pino's, she and Joe never actually went on a real date.

 _This is amazing._

"Mom will want us to come for dinners, maybe one or two Fridays a month?"

"OK, my Mom will want at least once Sunday a month, we do a long lunch sort of gathering. It isn't always as crazy as when the Clown and the girls are at your mother's but when all my brothers and sisters show up with their kids it can get seriously busy."

Ranger leans forward and takes Steph's hand. "I think we have a good shot at this, we need to go slow and not push. We can hold off on announcing this to our families for a week or so to see how it goes."

"I need to tell Joe so he isn't blindsided. We don't want all the gossip to screw his chances with the nurse he is dating. Everybody seems to love stretching the truth until it is unrecognizable."

Ranger laughs "You realize the first thing everybody is going to say is that I got you pregnant ..."

"Well, we know it isn't the truth, and when I don't explode and get fat everybody might realize that we are together because we want to be."

"Would you come work for me part time? Or full time? We can work it out with Vinnie - we could just handle all the skips at Rangeman. You can do the ones you are comfortable with and get help with the more difficult ones."

"What about Lula?"

"She works full time for Vinnie - she gets paid, you worked as a contractor and didn't. She will be fine." Ranger helps clear the table and put the dishes into the dishwasher. "If you like, work part time and transition into full time if you want. I want to make it easy on you. Anything comes up, we can discuss it."

They both look over as the locks tumble.

"Cupcake, what the *fuck* ... " Joe walks in and stops abruptly.


	4. Chapter 4

In the Wake

* * *

A dream you once were,  
A dream of all my realities,  
A dream I can no long strive for In the wake of my manly betrayals  
C. Elizabeth, Absolute Obsession

* * *

Joe looks around at the flower-filled apartment in amazement. Ranger and Steph sitting at her table with the remains of a romantic dinner for two just completed the look of some romantic chick flick.

"Joe, what are you doing here?" Steph asked with a heavily exasperated tone to her voice.

"I should ask *him* that," pointing at Ranger. Joe paced back and forth in the small living room, looking at the flowers and soft lighting.

Ranger leaned back in his seat, and watched Joe with his professional blank face on.

"No, you shouldn't ask my guest what he is doing here. Although it really is exactly what you see - dinner for two for a new couple."

"What the hell do you mean, a new couple?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. We have decided to date. We may have known each other professionally..."

"Professionally my ass, he gropes you in the alley by the bond office every chance he gets."

"And you screwed Terri every chance you got. At least I didn't screw around on you. Why do you think I broke it off with you months ago. Why do you think I avoid you every chance I get?" Steph blows a sigh. "And now if you will please leave, I would be thrilled. At least I don't have to call you to tell you that Carlos and I are dating each other so you didn't get blindsided by the damned gossipers around here."

"You'll be back, Cupcake - he just wants you as a piece of ass. He won't give you the house, or the kids, or the life that I have always wanted for us."

"And again, you have never listened to me. I don't want your house, I don't want your kids, I don't want to work in the tampon factory. I love my job, and Ranger supports me by letting me choose how I want to live. Please just go away and go back to that nurse you keep flirting with. Maybe you can be faithful to her, you couldn't keep it in your pants for me. Good bye Joe." Steph removed her attention from Joe in dismissal. Ranger kept a careful watch on Joe while seeming to pay attention to Steph as Joe moved restlessly.

"Cupcake.."

"And please stop calling me that ridiculous name. I have never liked it."

"Morelli, please just go. Steph obviously does not want you in her life, she explained exactly why she doesn't want you in her life. Treat her with respect and honor her wishes." Ranger sat up straight and put his forearms on the table and steepled his hands, sitting peacefully as if he had all the time and zen in the world.

Joe threw up his hands, bitched the pair of them out under his breath and left, slamming the door and scaring Rex off his wheel and into his soup can.

"Well, wasn't that nice. How long before my mother hears, I wonder," Steph sighs.


	5. Chapter 5

Family Life

* * *

The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish.  
Pope John Paul II

* * *

"Well, Babe" Ranger started "We can call her now and inform her what you are planning before she starts getting calls. We already know she has ben pushing Morelli on you for years. She may listen, but probably not."

Steph sighs, "OK. Sorry for whatever shit you end up hearing." She rummages in her purse for her phone, sets it on speaker phone and resignedly makes her call.

"Hello?" comes the shrill voice of her mother.

"Hi Mom..."

"Stephanie, what is it I hear that you..."

Steph interrupts her mother "Mom, MOM! Stop and listen for once. I really don't care what you have heard from all the gossips. I am NOT dating Joe, I am tired of his screwing around on me, and trying to force me to change. I am tired of you trying to force me to change."

Her mother interrupts "But Stephanie, I just want ..."

"You just want to control my life and force me to get married to someone who cheats on me, have kids I don't want, and turn into Valerie. It is not happening."

"But Joe will support you, and you need children while you are still young ..."

"Mom, I am involved with someone else, he already has a daughter that I like and I am sure that if I asked he has a house and would support me IF I wanted to get married again." In the background she hears a gentle snicker rumbling from deep inside Ranger's chest. She rolled her eyes at him.

"But you have to get married and have kids, and have a loving husband support you ..." Helen continued oblivious to Steph's opinions.

"Mom, I already did the husband thing, and have tried to work things out with Joe for several years. I am not cut out for the same things you and Val seem to love. Just let me be, and it will work out. And stop inviting Joe or anybody else over for dinner, I am seeing someone."

"But that thug..." started Helen before Steph interrupted her.

"But that thug, as you call him has always been respectful, helpful and is a respected businessman who is retired from the Army. It seems the only person you listen to is Joe and he has something against Carlos. Talk to Uncle Joe, I know you trust him, he is my godfather after all."

"Well, I suppose ..." Helen said hesitantly.

"Mom ..."Steph started with a heavy tone of warning in her voice.

"OK. I will talk to Joe. I just want you to be happy ..."

"And Carlos does make me happy. We will come over for dinner next Friday, how does that sound?" said Steph with a concillitory tone.

"OK, Stephanie. What does he like to eat?"

"Well, he eats things like salads, veggies, baked or broiled chicken and fish, nothing with really heavy sauces. He is from a Cuban family, though he was born here in the US. How about Eggplant Caponata or that eggplant parmigian that you make around Thanksgiving? Or a vegetable rissotto?"

"I can do that. I can ask Valerie to help me go on the computer and look up recipes." Helen sounded more positive, she is working on a menu and the Berg Housewife hospitality programming is kicking in.

"OK Mom, just please don't gossip about me. We are trying to keep this private so we can work on a relationship together."

"I'll try. Joe isn't going to be..."

"Joe already knows, he just left. Besides, he has been dating that nurse for a couple months now. He is her problem.

"OK honey," Helen said doubtfully. "Be safe." She hung up after Steph made some noncommittal sounds.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Steph commented.

"Babe."

"Carlos." Steph giggled. "I can do the one word thing too you know."

Just something trying to lure my muse back, she was rather scared by the house fire and replacement computer. I also think she doesn't like living in this motel - no kitchen! More as time permits, I promise!


End file.
